Wine(sleuth) and (London) Food(ie) matching supper club

So the London Foodie and I put on a supper club not long ago. How did that happen? And more importantly, how did it go?

Luiz and I were sitting around one evening, shooting the breeze and imbibing a delicious red Rhone. “We should do a dinner with food and wine matching!” One of us always says that whenever we start drinking the vino but we never get around to actually picking a date. This time was different. “Let’s pick a date and do it,” I said. Goading Luiz on, he jumped on the laptop and put up a post right then and there announcing our supper club date.

Next morning – “uh-oh.”

Luiz came up with a menu in two seconds but me, well…better get thinking about what to match with Japanese (!) cuisine. Japanese food is notoriously difficult to pair with wine and for some reason we decided to call the evening ” French wine and Japanese food” in our wine haze.

Mumm rose champagne and tuna tataki

I love champagne and honestly, it does work so very well with Japanese cuisine so a quick email to Perrier Jouet and they offered up the Mumm NV rosé for one of our courses. I paired it with the starter of tuna tataki with yuzu dressing. Rosé champagne is great with food, sometimes even better then non-rosé champagne. Everyone was surprised and delighted to be served bubbles in the middle of a meal.

Japanese slow cooked pork belly

The rest of the menu featured still table wines from my friends over at DVine Wine. Greg and co. are big on sustainable, organic and biodynamic wines and I was impressed by their range when I worked with them on a recent market stall. I chose a 2010 sauvignon blanc from Guy Allion in the Loire. A elderflower and gooseberry flavoured wine, a great aperitif and paired with the canapes of Yakitori Chicken, Peppers and Baby Leek in Teriyaki Sauce and sushi, everyone commented on what a delight the wine was both by itself and with the food.

Ch. D’Antugnac 2010 Chardonnay

Spicy pork in a Japanese hotpot paired with a slightly oaked chardonnay from the Aube Valley, the Domaine d’Antugnac 2010 next. It was a bit of a gamble but the oak wasn’t predominate and the soup not too spicy. As there was some s.blanc left, some diners stuck with that but I liked the chardonnay, as it had just enough acidity and fruit. Some people even went back to the champagne! Nothing wrong with that, if it was up to me, I’d have champagne with every course as well

Chicken and Somen noodles

I poured the chardonnay with the first main course of Steamed Chicken & Somen Noodles with Gomadare Sauce next. This worked better with the chicken, no surprise, there. A quick straw poll and I found most of the guests agreed with me.

The second main of Buta Kakuni (Slow Cooked, Caramelised Japanese Pork Belly) was paired with a Corbieres, The Castlemaure 2009. A blend of carignan, grenache noir, syrah and cinsault from the Languedoc, I love these savoury wines. The black fruits hang out in the background and this is just a great wine to have with dinner. Full bodied, great tannins, spicy notes, the pork belly wasn’t overly sweet as can sometimes happen, expertly cooked. Fantastic!

The London Foodie in action

A great evening and everyone loved both the food and the wines. Luiz and I had great fun putting the night together and the extra bottle of Mumm rose was unsurprisingly polished off by the end of the night.

Thank you to you and Luiz for an absolutely fab night! We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and when you say: “Some people even went back to the champagne!”… well I was definitely one of them and from now on I will only drink Champagne with my diner when going out although that might end up like not being sustainable for my wallet…

Had so much fun with you guys and just can’t wait for the next super supper club by Denise and Luiz!

Thanks, Fiona! It was a pleasure having you at our dinner. I’m glad to hear that I’ve opened your eyes to the possibilities of champagne! Champagne rocks!! Woot! We’re looking forward to seeing you at the next one! xx

Thanks, Nina! Luiz and I will hopefully be doing another early next year. And next time we’re going to try and have a few different champagnes to match. Keep an eye out on The winesleuth’s FB page and/or Twitter for announcements. Cheers!